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We decided for our last two days in Italy that we’d forego museums. Not that Rome doesn’t have a bunch of great ones — Sistine Chapel, anyone? — but we’d seen a number of them on our last trip here years ago. Besides, there’s a ton of history you can see just by walking around. Which is what we did.
We started by strolling towards the Tiber. After having some great Italian coffee and pastries in a sidewalk cafe, we found the river and some beautiful cathedrals.
We also ran across this interesting gas station. It’s built into part of the parking lane along the side of the road. I’ve never seen anything like it in the States, but it makes a lot of practical sense. Why make cars pull off the roadway?
There were pop up shops selling every touristy thing you could imagine along all the major roads.
We got a particular kick out of this shopping bag. Only, knowing what we know of cats, who is creating whom?
While resting in a square, Barbara noticed some of the pigeons had learned how to preen themselves while perched on very narrow ledges.
We were also impressed by all the different colors of buildings. The overall impact was quite charming.
Rome traffic features all kinds of vehicles, ranging from scooters through cars and on up to large commercial vehicles.
But the proportion of tiny cars is much higher than in the States. I imagine they’re a bit cramped inside, but they sure look like they’d make navigating narrow Roman streets — not to mention small parking spaces — much more convenient.
Our next stop was the Pantheon, a Roman temple to the gods. We’d been inside the last time we were in Rome — it’s worth doing — but we decided the long lines to get in this time weren’t worth it. Besides, we were having too much fun walking around the city.
When we got to the Trevi Fountain (also near our hotel) we were slightly disappointed to see it was undergoing cleaning and maintenance. It had no water in it, and you couldn’t get that close to it.
Still beautiful, though.
We ended up watching the sun set from the Spanish Steps. Definitely worth doing. It’s quite a social event, judging by all the people we ran into.
Looking west from the top of the steps you can see something that’s quite common in Rome, and that we’d seen in Florence, too. Many of the buildings have gardens on the top, sometimes with trees!
The sunset, when it finally arrived, was spectacular.
On the way back to our hotel I completely missed a really funny entry way to a building. Fortunately, Barbara spotted it.
And with that it was off to yet another tasty Italian dinner.
